Influence of sol concentration on properties of ZnO thin filmssynthesized by dip- coating method

There are many parameters which can affect sol-gel dip coated thin film properties. ZnO thinfilms were deposited on glass substrates by using a sol–gel dip coating technique with varyingprecursor concentrations. The sol was prepared by using zinc acetate dihydrate (ZAD) asprecursor, triethylamine as additive, and ۱-propanol as solvent. X-ray diffraction (XRD), fieldemission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and UV-Vis spectroscopy were used toinvestigate the effect of sol concentrations on the crystallinity, surface morphology, and opticalproperties of the films. XRD spectra show that the films are polycrystalline with a wurtzitecrystal structure and exhibit highly c-axis preferred orientation along (۰۰۲) plane. FESEMimages show that the mean grain size and porosity of ZnO film increase by the ZADconcentration. However, the transmittance and optical band gap of ZnO films remainunchanged with sol concentration

Keywords:

ZnO thin film , Sol-gel dip coating , Sol concentration , Preferred orientation.